Innocence
by Kittioto
Summary: Oneshot short story about how Piccolo feels about his young student Gohan. NOT A ROMANCE


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- Innocence -  
  
  
  
A/N: Yup, it's me again, Kittioto! I've read so many Gohan and Piccolo friendship fics, they've been simply engraved into what's left of my brain, and I had to make one of my own! It's been piddling around this little mind of mine for far too long. There is one thing possibly wrong with this fic, and that's this: I don't know if it's accurate. I don't have ANY DBZ episodes from the Saiyan Saga, and the last time I watched them was the last time that Cartoon Network showed them. That would be a few years, over here! And, as previously noted, I don't have the best of a mind's memory. So I sincerely apologize if any of this was incorrect. Like what Gohan may say or think, for instance. Oh yes, I wrote THIS particular scene becauuuse: IT'S THE BEST! This was my all-time favorite episode, and it's been mostly chiseled into my brain like all of those Gohan and Piccolo fics. Also: THIS IS NOT A YAOI! Ever accuse me of doing ANYTHING remotely like yaoi, and I will hunt you down and chew you out. ~GLARES~ Piccolo and Gohan's friendship is ONLY friendship. Happy reading. ^_^** (Oh and "DT", if you review this one first… YUP, you're the BEST! Whahahha!)  
  
Disclaimer: Do I LOOK rich to you? I mean, it'd be nice, but judging by my eleven dollar jeans and simple black shirt that was a hand-me-down, do you REALLY believe that I own DBZ? Or anything IN DBZ? I really don't think so…  
  
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Killing Goku had been his life's ambition. His whole purpose.   
It seemed, the essence of his life, was merely death. And then, one day…   
it happened. He'd killed him.  
  
Finally.  
  
Goku had latched onto his pitiful brother Raditz, and told him to fire. Strange, that his very enemy would order Piccolo, his life-long nemesis, to kill him.  
  
It was more than strange… it was noble. Heroic, even. Goku had played hero for the good of the planet, at the departure of his own life. Of being with his son, his wife, his friends: To save the world. Piccolo realized that he could find no pleasure in such a feat of Son's destruction. What was the point of killing a man who ASKED to be destroyed…?  
But never the less… he HAD defeated his enemy.  
  
'And now just look at me…' The tall Namek thought bitterly, looking down upon a small black-haired boy. '… Baby-sitting.'  
  
The boy was hungry… starving, even. He'd managed to get stuck on a huge cliff-edge, out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to eat and only the insects around him to be comforted by. Gohan missed being home. He missed crawling in bed and wrapping large quilted sheets around him, keeping him warm and theoretically 'safe'. He missed his mother, bossing him around to study a little harder, but still giving him that comforting loving smile. And, most of all… he missed his dad. His dad, and his goofy smiles down at Gohan, his warm hand resting on his shoulder when he got hurt.   
  
'If daddy was here… he'd probably take Nimbus and save me from up on this cliff!' He thought a little sadly, also thinking about the many times where his father had brought him down from numerous trees when he got stuck. 'And I'm so hungry…'  
The boy's stomach growled softly and he rested a hand on it. 'I want to go HOME…'  
  
Little Gohan took one more glance around him and settled down on the ground, preparing for a very cold night of sleep. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard a thud and looked up.  
Gohan's face brightened considerably as he noticed a couple apples, lying there right by him that seemed to appear out of nowhere. 'Finally, FOOD!' He picked up the apples and paused. "That's funny… I don't see any trees around here… oh well!"  
The boy smiled again and quickly gobbled down the fruit, grinning in the typical Son manner once he was finished, like any satisfied kid.   
  
"Ah, that was great!"  
  
  
  
Piccolo still floated above the child, watching him carefully with his fierce charcoal eyes. The boy wouldn't go TOTALLY hungry tonight. Cold, perhaps, but that was tolerable.  
  
'Such a kid… I can't believe I'm training this brat.' Despite his negative thoughts, Piccolo smiled inwardly. Gohan was entirely innocent… really, a typical kid. To think that perhaps one day, this 'typical kid' would over-power Piccolo himself, almost made him laugh in mockery. But he knew good and well that it was very possible. Gohan was a Saiyan, after all… in a literal sense, not 'typical' at all. But he was still innocent. Something that Piccolo had never been.  
  
'It's almost a shame…' He thought silently to himself, still gazing at the boy in thought.  
'Innocent; but not weak, and rather scared. After this battle, he probably won't be so innocent anymore.'  
  
  
As the Namek watched the boy, he began to think back on all the times he'd seen him throughout the training process. In spite of all his will power, his mindful guard, the boy was actually starting to grow on him. He didn't really have a clue to why, exactly... but he did guess that maybe, perhaps, it was because Gohan was something that he'd never even had a CHANCE to be.  
  
Innocent.  
  
His past would continue to haunt him, throughout his entire life, and he knew it. At first he didn't care... why should he? But after a while... after Goku's death... it was hard not to feel a certain extent of guilt.  
And it was driving him MAD.  
  
To think that he used to strive to destroy so much. That it was actually a GOAL. It was beginning to irretate him.  
  
'Gohan... little punk, what on earth are you doing to me?'  
  
  
  
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The Dead Zone had been opened, a gaping hole of a vortex floating above and behind Garlic Jr. The future all seemed pretty bleak and down-hill from this point on...  
  
"I'm gunna... KILL YOU!" Piccolo fired up a ki blast, forcing Goku to let go of his enemy's leg from the power, and he released the blast, twirling through the air - being sucked towards the vortex at the same time, but he managed to grip onto one of the few stable pillars left. He watched in anger and helplessness as his ki blast bounced harmlessly off of Garlic Jr.'s chest.  
Piccolo was the one supposed to control this planet, and he'd rather die an early age then let some punk blue freak take it over before him!  
  
Then, just as he began to lose hope as well as his grip; Gohan emerged. Miraculously standing up to Garlic Jr... probably not even conscious of what he was doing, and the power he posessed. How could it be, that this... KID could face Garlic Jr., just STANDING there, and he couldn't? It was then that Piccolo realized entirely that this child had no idea what he was getting himself into.  
'No way...'   
He thought to himself, still trying to retain his grip on the stone pillar.  
  
  
  
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He was going to teach Gohan to fly the simplest way. When Piccolo had told the boy that he posessed powers, he didn't believe him.  
He would soon change that course of thought.  
  
As Piccolo grabbed the boy by his scalp, he smirked some-what evilly. Gohan looked TERRIFIED, and he loved every bit of it. The child would learn to fight if it KILLED him.  
Drawing his green hand back, and then lunging it forward with Gohan in tow, he literally threw the boy at a large rock mass.  
  
Piccolo watched in awe as, instead of the boy stopping himself in mid-air, he simply fired up a powerful ki and blasted the rock itself.  
  
Up to this point, the most power he'd seen Gohan use was either when he defeated Garlic Jr. while not even knowing it, or when he blew up Raditz's space ship to save his father.  
  
It really was quite amazing that the boy could generate so much energy, without even thinking about it. Actually... it seemed that he could only use his energy when he wasn't conscious of it.  
Which further proved one thing.  
  
Gohan could only be innocent.  
  
  
  
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Back to the present time, Piccolo sighed inwardly. Gohan would ALWAYS have something that Piccolo couldn't. Beyond the power, beyond the abilities, he had the simple, joyful mind that only a child of Gohan's age could posess.  
While Piccolo was indeed glad that he didn't have such an ignorant way of thinking, he also realized that there was a degree of security in that mindful state. Indeed, Gohan had inherited much of his father...  
Gohan's father: His arch ememy, main rival. But... after all... he HAD defeated Goku. That was what he had aimed for. He didn't really NEED to go further than that. He could even... forget about it.  
Goku and Gohan both seemed to posess the ability to grow stronger as a natural way of life. Piccolo had to work constantly just to keep up.  
  
He'd always been angry at Goku for this, because he so greatly wanted to over-come him. Goku had killed Piccolo's original self, after all. It was only natural for him to want revenge... especially at such a young age, and only memories of a life that wasn't his to guide him through survival and training.  
  
But it wasn't really Goku's fault that he had such a natural ability, so he couldn't fight this forever. Goku would come back, after all, with the Dragon Balls. There was no avoiding the fact that Goku, once he came back, would probably be the strongest fighter to go up against the two Saiyans.  
There was only one thing left to do with Goku...  
to trust him.  
  
The very idea made him sick, but he'd done it before. And despite their long, unforgetful past together, Goku trusted him enough with more than one situation.  
  
And then, of course, here he was watching his enemy's son. His innocent son.  
This was the time to finally put pasts behind...  
because of something that Piccolo didn't posess.  
  
Innocence. 


End file.
